GREEN ECONOMY LEARNING ASSESSMENT SOUTH AFRICAin developing green economy strategies, with the...

©ILO/ CHANDNI LAFRANCHI

GREEN ECONOMY LEARNING ASSESSMENT SOUTH AFRICACRITICAL COMPETENCIES FOR DRIVING A GREEN TRANSITION

Copyright © DEA, DHET, UNITAR and Rhodes University, 2016

The report is published as part of the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) – an initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The PAGE Secretariat would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source.

No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the Department of Environmental Affairs on behalf of the South African Government. Citation PAGE (2016), Green Economy Learning Assessment South Africa: Critical Competencies for Driving a Green Transition. Disclaimer This publication has been produced with the support of PAGE funding partners. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of PAGE and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of any Government. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the PAGE partners concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of the PAGE partners, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements 4 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 5

Executive Summary 6

About the Assessment 6

Critical Competencies for Green Economy Policy Action 7

Learning Opportunities 8

Recommendations 8

1 Objectives, Scope and Components 11 1.1 Context and Rationale 11

1.2 The Nature of an Assessment 12

1.3 Main Components of the Assessment 13

2 Assessment Methodology 142.1 Process Overview 14

2.2 Priority Sectors and Focus Areas 17

2.3 Competency Framework 19

3 Findings: Green Economy Learning Needs 223.1 Case Study Overview 22

3.2 Findings on Learning Needs Across Data Sources 26

4 Findings: Provider Capacity 374.1 Desk Top and Interview Data Sources 37

4.2 General Comment on the Provider Findings 37

4.3 SpecificProviderFindings 39

5 Discussion of Findings 425.1 What Drives the Green Economy - Policies or Projects? 42

5.2 Green Economy Learning Needs 42

5.3 Green Economy Learning Opportunities 43

6 Recommended Actions 45

7 Comment on the Assessment Scope and Process 49

Appendix: Tools for Localised Learning Needs Assessments 50

This Green Economy Learning Assessment was commissioned by the Partnership on Action for Green Economy (PAGE) in collaboration with the South African Government. The assessment was undertaken by the GreenSkills Programme, a national partnership among universities and environmental partners involved in green skills research and development, under the auspices of the National Environmental Skills Planning Forum.

A task team, comprised of government partners and PAGE agencies, supported the development of the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the study, and was responsible for overseeing its implementation and completion of the report. The task team consisted of Amrei Horstbrink from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); Devina Naidoo, Dr Jenitha Badul and Leanne Richards from the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA); Dr Henry Roman from the Department of Science and Technology (DST); Zakhele Mdlalose from the Department of Trade and Industry (dti); Hilda Serepo from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET); Wynand van der Merwe from National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA), and Dr Najma Mohamed from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Assessment and report also benefited from contributions from the ILO Green Jobs Programme and the PAGE National Steering Committee, including representatives from DEA, the dti, DST and the Economic Development Department.

The Green Skills researchers who conducted the assessment and drafted the report are Prof. Eureta Rosenberg of Rhodes University and Garry Rosenberg of Garry Rosenberg Consulting with conceptual and management inputs from Prof. Heila Lotz-Sisitka from Rhodes University and Presha Ramsarup from Wits University. GreenSkills is funded through DEA’s National Green Fund. Like PAGE, the Green Skills programme aims to strengthen the capacity of the national skills system to respond to the challenge and opportunity of greening the South African economy.

PAGE gratefully acknowledges the support of all its funding partners: the European Union; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Government of Finland; the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Germany; the Ministry of Environment, Korea; the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment; the Government of Sweden; and the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

This report was designed by Pilar Lagos (UNITAR).

All photos are under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

http://www.un-page.org/

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial ResearchDBSA Development Bank of Southern AfricaDHET Department of Higher Education and TrainingDEA Department of Environmental Affairsdti Department of Trade and IndustryDST Department of Science and TechnologyEED Economic Development DepartmentELRC Environmental Learning Research CentreGIZ German Society for International CooperationHCD Human Capital DevelopmentICLEI Local Governments for SustainabilityIDC Industrial Development CorporationILO International Labour OrganisationIWRM Integrated Water Resource ManagementM&E Monitoring and EvaluationNCPC National Cleaner Production CentreNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationPAGE Partnership for Action on Green EconomyREIPPPP Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement ProgrammeSALGA South African Local Governments AssociationSETA Sector Education and Training AuthorityTIPS Trade and Industrial Policy StrategyUN United NationsUNIDO United Nations Industrial OrganizationUNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNIDO United Nations Development Programme UNITAR United Nations Institute for Training and Research

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

About the Assessment

South Africa has made significant progress in developing green economy strategies, with the hallmark adoption of the Green Economy Accord in 2011. Green economy initiatives exist and government resources have backed investments in a number of sectors, provinces and cities. In addition, South African education and training providers are currently offering various courses relevant for a green economy. However, earlier research conducted towards a National Environmental Sector Skills Plan (DEA and Rhodes University, 2010) and other human capital development strategies, indicated that environmental skills planning and provisioning in South Africa is largely reactive, ad hoc and inadequate. Given the scale of the challenge of transitioning to a green and inclusive economy, a more systematic engagement of the education and training sector is warranted. The Partnership on Action for Green Economy (PAGE) in collaboration with the South African Government hence put out a call for a Green Economy Learning Assessment in 2016. The assessment was conducted during June to August 2016 by researchers of the GreenSkills programme. Compared to previous studies, it focused on the learning needs of ‘champions’ in government, business, civil society and academia, who drive the transition towards a

green economy in diverse policy contexts at national, provincial or local levels. It included all nine green economy focus areas identified in South Africa’s National Sustainable Development Strategy and Action Plan (2011).

The data for the assessment was collected through a desk review of relevant policy documents and studies; two online surveys yielding 40 responses from national experts; 12 individual interviews; three case studies; as well as a review of existing courses relevant to a green economy. The assessment methodology and case study choices were verified with stakeholders and with the assessment task team.

FOUR MAIN OUTPUTS OF THE ASSESSMENT

A competency framework which allows for a structured analysis of green economy learning needs.

A database of 170 learning opportunities/courses offered by universities, research institutes, not-for-profit organisations,development partners and others.

A list of priority actions to advance learning and skills development for greening the South African economy.

A self-assessment tool for teams designing or implementing green economy policies, to identify potential competency gaps and suitable learning opportunities.

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Critical Competencies for Green Economy Policy Action

By triangulating and clustering findings from the various data sources, seven competency clusters and associated learning needs regarded as critical for advancing green economy policy action were identified. These clusters are:

• Making the case for a green economy initiative or intervention.

• Integrated sustainable development planning, policy development and governance.

• Strategic adaptive management and expansive or transformative learning.

• Working effectively across different units within and across organisations and sectors.

• Working with multiple knowledge fields (practically, politically and conceptually).

• Human capacity development and organisational development.

• Principle-based leadership.• Each of these requires technical,

relational and so-called ‘transformational’ competencies, which in turn involve particular skills, knowledge and values.

In terms of learning needs, the assessment concluded as follows:

• A large number of diverse competencies are needed for driving the green economy transition. These competencies occur or are needed not necessarily in individuals, but in teams of people (distributed competencies) who have different roles and who need to work effectively with each other; for this leadership is required.

• All the green economy champions in this assessment had been applying themselves for years to develop the deep knowledge of the context in which they worked.

• A number of technical learning needs (such as modelling) were identified, but relational and transformational competencies (such as stakeholder engagement and the ability

to integrate development goals) occurred even more frequently in the data, and influenced how technical competencies were developed and applied.

• The identified competencies appear on a continuum as they are each, to varying degrees, technical, relational and transformational in nature; for example, the kind of modelling required for greening the economy, would also have a transformative dimension (visioning, ethical valuing).

• While the more technical competencies often pertained to a particular context or occupational role, the more relational and transformational competencies seemed more generic, e.g. Stakeholder engagement was needed across all green economy focus areas, in relation to all levers and in a variety of occupations.

It was evident that technical, relational and transformational competencies co-exist in successful individuals and teams and mutually influence each other; thus if there is a transformational intent (value or ethic) to the task at hand, then knowledge (such as knowledge about economic development paths) and skills (such as modelling) will need to be developed and applied in transformative ways. This would imply that competencies cannot be selected, taught and applied in an atomistic manner, i.e. as discrete units separate from each other. Nor can they be dis-embedded from the context in with they are needed, and the task at hand.

It was also evident that competencies could only be successfully applied if the context was conducive for their deployment, for example, if innovation was encouraged through organisational guidelines and structures. Thus, organisational development and the associated leadership competencies were also necessary, if indirect, learning requirements for transitioning to a green economy.

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Learning Opportunities

A wide spectrum of learning opportunities relevant to a green economy already exists in South Africa. Most topics or subjects suggested by the competencies identified in the assessment are taught somewhere by someone. The value of having access to a database of available learning opportunities is evident in that some respondents indicated they did not know of any training in for example adaptive management (while this is offered by at least two universities).

Without a curriculum analysis or extensive personal reviews, it would be difficult to know whether a particular learning opportunity will meet a particular learning need. The nuances that respondents have given to the learning needs they identified, should be noted. For example, while a number of institutions run courses and workshops in monitoring and evaluation, respondents described the learning priority as ‘not standard monitoring and evaluation’ skills but ‘reflexive’ or ‘innovative’ monitoring and evaluation that respond to complexity and support adaptive management, and which can adequately determine the ecological and social impacts of green economy interventions.

Most of the champions interviewed, valued and recommended combinations of structured learning opportunities (courses) with less structured opportunities (such as professional networks). The majority of respondents who were active in driving green economy initiatives, indicated that they learned most ‘on the job’, in projects with other people, including people with diverse (disciplinary) backgrounds, and that they sought out much of what they needed to know themselves, to extend or strengthen their skills. However, it should be noted that all interviewees were graduates i.e. already educated in specific

disciplines or fields. They furthermore noted that access to networks and some resources can be difficult to gain unless one is already relatively senior and experienced.

It was evident that courses including foundational courses are vital, but on their own courses are not adequate to guide changing practices. For graduates, shared workplaces are likely to be the most significant learning spaces, in combination with universities and other educational providers. A hybrid learning model recommended for members of teams or departments that are meant to function together (but often fail to do so optimally) to attend (parts of) courses together, even if they were at different management levels, in conjunction with tackling shared, complex green economy tasks.

Recommendations

The assessment identified a number of specific actions that the PAGE programme and various partners can undertake in the short, medium and longer term, to build the capacity of a growing number of green economy champions. These were endorsed at a stakeholder workshop in August 2016.

The first recommendation was that the database of learning opportunities and the contextual learning needs assessment tools be included in the proposed Green Economy Knowledge Platform to be developed under the PAGE programme in South Africa. This would optimize the value of this report. It would also address the potential limitations of a broad national assessment that may not be particular enough for some contexts.

The second recommended action was for the expansion of the introductory green economy courses that are currently on offer, 2

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i.e. to offer more such courses, at a variety of levels. This was motivated by the value stakeholders derived from courses currently on offer, the view that these concepts are still relatively new in many contexts, and that more South Africans involved in policy should be exposed to these introductory concepts. Furthermore this assessment showed that more than introductory concepts are needed if the competencies identified were to be addressed. For example, green economy champions need a deeper understanding of alternative economic development options in order to successfully integrate ecological, economic and broader social goals. Hence the recommendation was made, to also offer courses at intermediate and advanced levels.

In the third instance, stakeholders endorsed a recommendation for the development of courses in integrated energy, waste and water management that would give effect to green economy policy and implementation. While these are courses for ‘the working population’ that were not covered by this assessment, it was noted that they are also an important tool to educate senior managers on what the transition to a green economy would look like in practice, and to motivate them to support this transition. This assessment found that technical competencies such as the design, implementation and management of energy efficient processes cannot be separated from transformational competencies (the ability to envisage different processes for using and managing energy) and relational competencies (the ability to motivate others to adopt energy efficiency). Hence these courses and associated learning processes should be carefully designed to address the spectrum of competencies identified.

A fourth practical action recommended was to develop courses in reflexive evaluation and adaptive management. A number of findings pointed in this direction including ‘policy monitoring and evaluation’ being most frequently listed as the most important lever

for the green economy. In addition, the need to ‘make the case’ for green economy initiatives and investment meant that new approaches to evaluation are required, beyond standard cost-benefit analyses. Evaluation is also needed to guide green economy champions’ actions; they operate in complex, uncertain contexts and their actions are pioneering; hence they need rapid feedback to guide next steps. Such approaches to evaluation are not common, even though the database showed that a number of organisations offer evaluation training in South Africa.

Stakeholders were mindful that in order to offer all these new courses, trainers with new subject knowledge and suitable pedagogical skills would be required. The fifth recommendation was therefore for ‘training of trainers’ opportunities that are aligned with the learning needs in the assessment to be made available, so that the recommended courses can be offered on a sustainable basis in South Africa.

The final action recommended was for the mainstreaming of the findings of this assessment in sectoral skills planning at a national level. Stakeholders cautioned that once-off or even repeated skills interventions will not make the necessary changes at the scale required, unless National Government and partners embraced the need for green skills, and make provisions for proactive skills planning, professional bodies, occupational descriptors, and qualifications development.

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©ILO/CHANDNI LAFRANCHI

1 OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND COMPONENTS

1.1 Context and Rationale

South Africa joined the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE)1 in March 2015. PAGE brings together the expertise of five United Nations (UN) agencies: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The aim is to support countries and regions to put sustainability at the heart of economic policies and practices. In partnership with the South African Government, the coordinating ministry Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), Economic Development Department (EDD), Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) and Department of Science and Technology (DST), PAGE’s activities include capacity development support for the design and delivery of introductory green economy learning through national learning institutions. The Green Economy Learning Assessment for South Africa is a response to PAGE’s intention to contribute to better policy coordination and collaboration, and to help improve institutional and individual capacities through enhanced green economy learning.

The overall aim of this work stream within PAGE is to advance the integration of green economy considerations into nationally executed learning action and programmes. The specific objectives of this assessment were to:1. Identify learning priorities for advancing a

green economy in South Africa;2. Review existing institutional capacities

to provide related education and training activities, and

3. Identify opportunities for strengthening and upscaling the delivery of green economy learning through national institutions.

While providing some space to cover broader learning needs, the assessment was focussed on core issues closely related to the green economy agenda such as:

• Green economy rationale, benefits and key concepts including externalities; ecosystem services; resource efficiency; green jobs, etc.;

• Green economy strategies and development planning e.g. green growth strategies, integrating green economy consideration in sectoral planning processes;

• Green economy modelling and policy assessments e.g. macro-economic modelling, industry assessments;

• Tools to advance a green economy,

1 PAGE website: http://www.un-page.org/ 11

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including environmental standards, tax incentives, procurement;

• Green economy indicators and measuring progress e.g. different types of indicators, linkages with the international Sustainable Development Goals;

• International green economy policies and cooperation e.g. global policy milestones, major international programmes and initiatives, relevant funding sources, etc.

The aim of the assessment was to look at critical competencies required to understand and apply these concepts in a policy context i.e. it focused on competencies that were explicitly linked to ‘advancing’ a green economy. The intended ultimate beneficiaries are professionals involved in policy development and implementation, drawn from government, business, academia and civil society, as well as those who might be in these roles in the future (e.g. university students).

The assessment did not set out to cover the range of understanding and skills required by the broader working population for participating in a green economy. Initiatives to identify and develop technical skills for green jobs already exist (for example supported by the ILO and GIZ) and were not repeated here.

Even with these delineations, the scope of the green economy and associated learning needs is very broad and in some instances contested. An important first step in the assessment was to adapt the thematic scope to the South African context and select sectors in which to conduct the assessment.

As the GreenSkills programme is focussed on strengthening the national system’s capacity to continue gathering skills related intelligence, using the opportunity to reflect on appropriate methodology was also important. Assessments need to be repeated from time to time and lessons learnt regarding methodology are therefore valuable. These are included in Chapter 7.

1.2 The Nature of an Assessment

As different readers may have differing expectations of this report, it is worth reflecting on what an assessment needs to do, what it is and what it is not. In this regard it is useful to contrast it with a scientific review (Table 1). An assessment is a critical evaluation of information, for purposes of guiding decisions on a complex, public issue. The topic is defined by the stakeholders, who are typically decision makers. Assessments are conducted by a credible group of experts with a broad range of disciplinary experience, in a balanced and transparent way. Assessments reduce complexity but add value by summarisation, synthesis and sorting what is known and widely accepted, from what is not known (or not agreed). Assessments relate to the situation at a particular time and in a given geographical domain. They are often repeated after some period.

Table 1 is based on the explication of scientific assessments in the report on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005). (www.millenniumassessment.org)

REVIEW ASSESSMENT

AUDIENCE Scientists Decision-makers

DONE BY One of a few Large and varied group

TOPIC Simple and narrow Broad and complex

IDENTIFIES GAPS IN

Research: curiosity driven

Knowledge for implementation: problem-driven

(UN) CERTAINTY STATEMENTS

Hidden Required, but clearlyflagged

COVERAGE Exhaustive, historical

Sufficienttodealwithmain range of uncertainty

SYNTHESIS Not required Essential to reduce complexity

Table 1: Comparison between a Review and an Assessment

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http://www.millenniumassessment.org

1.3 Main Components of the Assessment

Component 1: Assessment of Green Economy Learning Needs

This component involved assessing learning priorities for green economy policy development and implementation in key sectors. The priority sectors were identified through reviews of existing policies and related documents such as the Green Economy Summit Report, the Green Economy Accord and studies such as the South African Green Economy Modelling report, and consultation of stakeholders. It was found that in many instances, green economy action actually occurs across and between sectors as opposed to being specifically sector based, and the term green economy focus areas was introduced, along with sectors.

Component 2: Assessment of Learning Provider Capacities

This component consisted of an ‘audit’ of existing capacity in the country to provide learning on green economy issues, in particular the competency needs identified in the assessment. It focussed on institutions that are already engaged in or might play a role in green economy learning. The scope was formal post-school education in universities as well as continuous /non-formal learning offered by universities, not-for-profit organisations, development partners and other agencies.

Component 3: Recommendations

This component proposes actions to upscale green economy learning in South Africa in the short and medium term including recommendations for strengthening the capacity of national education and training institutions. The results of the assessment were presented and discussed at a workshop in August 2016 inclusive of governmental and non-governmental stakeholders and educational institutions. The outcomes of the workshop informed the basis of the final report. More information on the process is included in section 2.

Component 1Assessment of Green

Economy Learning Needs

Component 2Assessment of Learning

Provider Capacities

Component 3Recommendations

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2 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY2.1 Process Overview

The assessment combined several research methods. The main steps were:

1. Literature review and methodology design, including:

Review of literature on sustainability and transformative competencies

Review of green economy sectorial policies and related studies

Adaptation of competency framework and policy cycle

Refinementsonmethodologybrief

2. Online survey (1) on green economy levers and priority

areas:

Verificationofkeyleverstostimulategreen economy transition

Verificationofkeyfocusareasforgreen economy transition

3. Verification roundtable with stakeholders on 2 June 2016

Consultation on competency framework, methodology and

research process

Recommendations of case studies, key informants and institutions

4. Online survey (2) on learning needs and opportunities

Emailed to 106 key informants.

20 responses received and analyzed.

Triangulation with interviews and case studies.

5. Twelve interviews with key informants

Senior level individuals with exceptional experience in green

economy priority areas

6. Analysis of three case studies:

The Renewable Independent Power Producers Procurement (REIPPPP)

Local Government Sustainable Transport Initiatives

The Working for Water Programme

7. Education provider audit in relation to identified

competencies

Identificationandprofilingofnationalinstitutions providing green economy

learning services

8. Three task team consultations

Including DEA, DST, DHET, dti, NCPC-SA, ILO and UNITAR

9. Stakeholder workshop on 30 August 2016

Presentation of process and synthesizedfindings

Development of recommendations

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Figure 1: Overview of the Steps and Methods Used in the Assessment Process

Tables 2-4 present the detail of the methodology and related outcomes for each of the three assessment

PURPOSE PROCESS & DATA SOURCES OUTCOMES

1. Review learning needs expressed in existing national policies and programmes and refinelistofcoretopics/skillstobe covered in the assessment

Green economy related policy documentswereidentifiedthroughdeskresearch and consultation with experts

There are already many green economy related policies in existence. They seldom make explicit reference to skills needs, but point to areas regarded as important for the green economy, which were used to identify key informants

2. Gather insights from key informants involved in green economy policy making and implementation in South Africa

Develop a list of key informants through desk research and consultation with experts

The list of 96 included national steering committee members, representatives from different government departments, education and training institutions, business associations, labour and civil society organisations.

Give the assessment more focus to allow more depth in the outcomes

Survey 1 was emailed to the list of 96 to determine what these experts regarded as the most important levers and sectors / focus areas for the green economy

Green economy focus areas were identifiedalongwithprioritygreen economy levers. Policy implementation and review was identifiedasevenmoreimportantthan policy development; as was education for sustainable development. These outcomes influencedtheexpansionofthelistand the choice of case studies.

Give structure and depth to thelearningneedsidentifiedand increase depth

Developed a competency framework based on the work of Wiek et al (2011) and Scharmer (2009)

20 responses received and analysed (excluding the ILO Green Economy Community of Practice responses)

Gather learning needs identifiedbykeyinformants

Survey 2 was emailed to the list of 106, as well as to an ILO Green Economy Community of Practice

20 responses received and analysed (excluding the ILO Green Economy Community of Practice responses)


Interviews were conducted face to face or telephonically, with senior level individuals with exceptional experience in Green Economy and Policy (2); Education for sustainable development (2); Water (4); Conservation & Natural Resource Management (2); Cities and Mobility/Transport (2); Waste (1), Cleaner Production & Energy (1).

12 interviews conducted and summarised


Case studies were selected in consultation with stakeholders and the task team

3 case studies conducted and analysed: Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme; Transport: Eco-Mobility and Smart Driver Training in City of Joburg and City of Cape Town; Water and Natural Resource Management: Working for Water

3.Refine,analyseandsummarisefindingsregarding green economy learning needs and gaps

Analysis through thematic clustering in three iterations

Thefindingsofsurvey2,interviewsand case studies were summarised in a draft report, with supporting evidence in Appendices

Table 2: Process for Component 1 - Learning Needs

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1. Identify existing learning programmes and support initiatives

A list of institutions was drawn up based on desk top research with follow up phone calls where possible; interviews; surveys; two stakeholder consultation workshops. The desk top research was done midway through the Assessment and completed oncelearningprioritieswerefinalised

A spreadsheet listing 170 courses and other learning opportunities with an assessment of relevance in relation to learning needs identified,andsummarised

2. Identify national institutions engaged or potentially interested in providing green economy learning services

A list of institutions was drawn up based on desk top research with follow up phone calls where possible; interviews; surveys; two stakeholder consultation workshops. The desk top research was done midway through the Assessment and completed oncelearningprioritieswerefinalised

Became apparent that many universities were involved in green economy related learning programmes; in addition to a number of other institutions, both local and international.

3.Developprofilesforrelevantorinterested learning institutions

Through desk research details were added to learning opportunities where available. Follow up phone calls were in some cases necessary to expand on the web-based information.

Given the nature of available information and the time constraints of the Assessment it was concluded that developing a comprehensive inventory would not be possible; but insights regarding learning providers were to be probed in interviews with green economy champions and universities.

4. Develop insights into how best to meet priority learning needs

This question was posed in the 12 interviews conducted with both universities andgreeneconomychampionsreflectingon their own learning journeys

Preferred learning opportunities identified(amixofformaland informal processes)

5. Analyse challenges for upscaling green economy learning through national institutions

Discussion with representative learning institutions were held in two stakeholder workshops and interviews with university representatives

The challenges of severely under-resourced universities under pressure to take on more students for less funding, were paramount. In response to rising fees and the slow and inadequate release of government funding to support poor students, student uprisings also affected universities at this time. Lecturers founditdifficulttoparticipateinthisassessment, and to make time for curriculum innovation. Nonetheless there are many ‘green economy’ and ‘sustainability’ champions in academia and they have already put in place significantprogrammesinthisregard.

Table 3: Process for Component 2 - Learning Opportunities

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1. Verifying focus and scope of the assessment

ConsultationwithPAGE,verificationroundtable with 25 stakeholders in June 2016 in Pretoria; follow up Task Team meeting

Scope and methodology decided including the use of case studies and assessing needs across sectors not only in discrete sectors

2. Review of draft report by Task Team members

Draft report circulated 23-24 August 2016

Feedback incorporated in report prepared to discuss with stakeholders

3.Discussionoffindingsand recommendations with stakeholders

Stakeholder workshop in August with 19 stakeholders including a response to the Assessment and group discussions; Task Team meeting

Endorsement,refinementandexpansion of recommendations

4. Finalisation of draft report Based on feedback during thefinalworkshop

Assessment report

2.2 Priority Sectors and Focus Areas

The assessment started with a desk top review (reading) of the green economy related policies in (among others) the agricultural sector (national and provincial levels); the Green Economy Summit Report, Economic Development Department (EED), Department of Environmental Affains (DEA), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Department of Trade and Industry (dti), South Africal Local Goverment Association (SALGA), and the South African Cities Network, 2010); the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC)/ Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)/ Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) Green Jobs report (2011); the Skills for Green Jobs in South Africa country study (ILO, 2010); and the National Development Plan (NDP, 2012) which guided among others the Green Economy Modeling Report for South Africa (DEA and UNEP, 2013). It was observed that experts regard the priority areas as outlined in the Green Economy Summit report (summarised in Figure 2) as still being the main priority areas for advancing the green economy. This was confirmed at the verification

roundtable with stakeholders, and by the Minister of Environment Affairs in May 2016, in a speech where she also highlighted education and training as a key driver of green transitions.

An online survey was sent to 96 experts in order to further refine the focus of the assessment.2 The 20 experts who responded indicated which areas they saw as priorities for a green economy in South Africa. These results informed the choice of case studies and the choice of participants for survey 2 and the interviews. The most frequently chosen focus areas are listed in Table 5.

Other focus areas or sectors mentioned were Finance (35%, 7 mentions); Mining (20%, 4 mentions); Tourism (20%, 4 mentions), Fisheries and Forestry (5% or 1 mention each) and in the “Other” category, respondents indicated Public domain e.g. municipalities; and Mobility (Smart Cities) as important for the green economy transition. The respondents to survey 1 also regarded a spectrum of policy levers that would advance a green economy (see Figure 3).

Table 4: Process for Component 3 - Scoping and Deciding on Priorities

2 The categories used for a recent survey of the state of the green economy in th Mediterranean (www.medgreeneconomy.org/) were included,

as well as the nine priority areas from South Africa’s Green Economy Summit Report.

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www.medgreeneconomy.org/

Agriculture Energy (clean and efficient)

Natural Resources Conservation

& Management (including mining)

Sustainable Transport and Infrastructure

Environmental Sustainability incl. Tourism,

Education

Green Building and Built

Environment

Sustainable Waste Management

Water Management

Sustainable Production and Consumption

Focus Areas/ Sector Survey 1 Responses (20 total)

Energy 100% (20 mentions)Transport 70% (14 mentions)Waster 60% (12 mentions)Water 55% (11 mentions)Agriculture 55% (11 mentions)Built Environment 55% (11 mentions)Industry 50% (10 mentions)

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Figure 2: Nine Priority Focus Areas for the Green Economy in South

Table 5: Priority Focus Areas/Sectors for the Green Economy in South Africa

Africa (Green Economy Summit, 2010)

Figure 3 indicates that there was more emphasis on the review of the (implementation) of existing policy, than on policy development. This made sense given the large number of existing policies evident in the desk top review. PAGE emphasised the policy context as a site for driving the green economy, and the survey findings suggest that policy implementation and review are equally if not more important than policy development as a context for identifying learning needs. This was borne out in discussions at the stakeholder verification workshop.

Survey 1 also identified education as a key driver for the green economy. This was significant given the observation in the 2010 ILO country report, Skills for Green Jobs in South Africa, that a shortage of environmental educators and trainers could be a key barrier to advancing the green economy in the country.

The levers prioritised in Survey 1 further informed the choice of case studies, which featured all these levers with the exception of green taxes. These insights also informed the compilation of a database of stakeholders for further surveys and interviews.

2.3 Competency Framework

To develop a suitable conceptual framework for determining learning needs, the assessment team drew on the work of Wiek et al (2011)3 and Scharmer (2009)4 .

Weighted Importance

3 Wiek, Withycombe and Redman, Sustainability Science, 2011: Key competencies in sustainability: A reference framework for academic program development. 4 Ten Propositions on Transforming the Current Leadership Development Paradigm, paper prepared for the World Bank Round Table on Leadership for

Development Impact, October 2009, World Bank Institute, [email protected] Note that outside of formal education, in for example labour markets, ‘skill’ is understood more broadly, as a whole person with a full range of attributes

relevant to the work they may do.

The notion of competence is preferred to skills because educational providers are an important target group for the assessment. For educators and education planners, a competence is a broader concept than a skill; competencies encompass knowledge, values and skills, skills being what one is able to do in relation to one’s knowledge and values. In the context of the high level drivers of the green economy, this broader concept is more applicable than a narrowly interpreted ‘skill’5 .

Textbox 1: Competencies versus Skills

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Policy Monitoring & Evaluation

Education for Sustainable Development

Green Public Procurement

Financial Instruments & Incentives

Policy Development

Green Taxes

What are the most important levers for SA to transition to a Green Economy?

Figure 3: Priority Levers for a Green Economy

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The ability to use given techniques

‘Soft skills’ for successful people

engagement

Individual and group agency

Working with / on objects which are available for manipulation and in the factual domain; for example mathematical modelling, cost accounting

Focused on working with people; examples include stakeholder engagement, dialogue, empathetic listening and negotiation (mutual adjustment)

Focused on deep change in self or systems; examples are generative listening, reflexivity, multi-stakeholder innovation, co-sensing and co-creation.

Technical Competencies Relational Competencies Transformational Competencies

Figure 4: Definitions of the Competencies Used in the Assessment

Colloquially, when stakeholders discuss learning needs, they use the terms technical (sometimes scientific) skills, and soft skills. Stakeholders regard the so-called soft skills as critical, but the term used and the lack of distinction do not reflect this importance and do not help education providers design curricula.

Leadership development specialist Otto Scharmer (2009) produced a useful framework in which ‘soft skills’ that relate to people engagement and people management, are termed relational competencies. Scharmer further gives voice to the importance of leaders’ ability to envision, drive and manage change in complex institutional contexts, referring to these as transformative competencies.

Scharmer’s work is particularly useful because he notes that while technical competencies are important, we tend to underestimate the importance of relational and transformational competencies.

Based on their review of competencies valued in relation to the sustainability sciences, Wiek et al. (2011) give further differentiation of relational and transformational competencies with references to, for example, communicative competence, anticipatory competence (e.g. evident in modelling), and normative competence (values dimension). Figure 4 outlines the competency framework for this Assessment, which combines elements of the work of Scharmer (2009) and Wiek et al. (2011).

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The REIPPPP is regarded as one of South Africa’s most successful green economy initiatives to date. While the country’s progress in introducing renewable energy was at first slow, from 2011 onwards progress accelerated and by 2014 $14 billion had been committed to generate clean energy through the REIPPPP.

At that stage the project involved more than 100 stakeholders, and it was regarded as the most successful public private partnership in Africa in the last 20 years and one of the top 10 public private renewable energy projects globally. While a number of external factors (like the international markets for renewable energy technology) were relevant to the achievements, the competencies of particular individuals and teams were also significant (as noted in a report by Eberhard et al., 20146 , on which this case study drew). The project management team displayed the following competencies:

• Coalition building - they brought together stakeholders from government and business sector, and were able to establish credibility with and win the trust of both groups; this was achieved for example through professionally run bid conferences and fair bidding practices

• Championing – they relentlessly made the case to government and other stakeholders that this was an important initiative, and eventually won the necessary support; this reflects an ability to provide and act on visionary leadership

• Problem solving and reflexivity – they learnt from earlier bid rounds and made important improvements to following rounds. This also included anticipatory skills, e.g. they were able to anticipate counter-productive moves by bidders

3 FINDINGS: GREEN ECONOMY LEARNING NEEDS

3.1 Case Study Overview

The aim of the case studies was to analyse cases of green economy policy action, their success factors or enablers, as well as gaps and risks, in order to identify the competencies that seem to be associated with taking such action, either because the parties in the case exhibited such competencies, or because an absence of certain competencies seems to have inhibited aspects of the action. The findings are summarised here with a focus on the learning needs identified.

CASE STUDY | The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP)

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• Project design and implementation in cross-disciplinary teams e.g. energy, finance

• Sourcing and effectively using others’ expertise – the project management unit made effective use of local and international consultants and other expertise.

A range of technical skills were necessary for the project such as contracting, procurement design and implementation, project development skills, project financing and budgeting, setting up functioning units; also lending and investment, accounting, forecasting and risk assessment.

A critical success factor of the REIPPPP was that the project management unit was set up outside of the government departments where it did not follow National Treasury’s extensive supply chain management procedures7. This allowed them to move with the necessary speed. The exceptional agile management displayed by the management team involved the ability to design and work with an agile management system: being adaptive and responsive, making decisions and progressing with some speed, while upholding the key principles of procurement: fairness, transparency and value for money. All this contributed to investor trust and buy-in.

Risks identified included the difficulties the REIPPPP would encounter once it moved into a government department and became subjected to standard procurement processes; also the relatively poor proposals and design features for local social economic benefit associated with the power projects – evidence of a lack of skills in sustainable development – in this case integrating across the technical energy, financial, and social development fields. Concerns were also expressed by Eberhard et al. (2014) in their review of the REIPPPP, regarding the risk of poorly designed indicators to evaluate the success and social impact of the projects (e.g. local content, jobs, benefits within a 50 km radius). Poorly chosen indicators and poor interpretation of indicators by the evaluation teams to be appointed could unintentionally lead to project mismanagement and failure to show benefits – a serious risk, given the extent of this high profile green economy investment.

6 Eberhard, A., Kolker, J., Leigland, J. 2014. South Africa’s Renewable Energy IPP Program: Success Factors and Lessons. PPIAF, World Bank Group, Washington.

7 The observation that a particular organisational set-up was necessary to enable individuals or teams to work effectively, was common to other contexts

across the Assessment as well. 23

CASE STUDY | Local Government Sustainable Transport Initiatives

This case study investigated two initiatives with green economy potential, an Eco-Mobility Initiative by the City of Joburg and a Smart Driver Training project in the City of Cape Town. Increasingly regional or city level sites are playing key roles in the green economy transition.

The Smart Driver project could, it is estimated, save the City of Cape Town R20 million per year. The initiative originated in the transport department, but it only picked up momentum when it was relocated in to environmental management. The individual who then took the lead with the project was interviewed for this case study. The competencies displayed by this ‘green economy champion’ were as follows: She displayed tenacity and patience, as it was six years since the initiative was started, before she successfully ‘make the case’ to councillors to allocate budget to the project. She was able to build coalitions, motivate and manage internal teams, raise enthusiasm and funding. She noted that it is important to keep the vision of the importance of the initiative, while also managing details and ‘paperwork’.

The ability to move between higher level strategic vision and implementation level detail was another common theme across the assessment. It was also related to the observation in the REIPPPP case, that successful green economy action involved not only to individual competence but also to the organisational set-up: in the environmental department, staff were more likely to have a vision of environmental and social impact than in other departments were logistical tasks were the mainstay of managers’ work. This green economy champion also emphasised the need for better monitoring and evaluation tools to better ‘make the case’ that sustainability projects are worthwhile in a local government context. To give effect to the project, she also needed excellent trainers able to custom design and deliver training programmes for a particular context – in this case drivers who have already been in their positions for many years, who are not particularly well educated, and do not necessarily speak English as a home language.

The eco-mobility initiative of City of Joburg involved closing off the business and tourism hub of Sandton to motorised transport for a month. This awareness raising exercise had other lasting impacts. Like many green economy initiatives it involved multiple parties including ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability). What competencies enabled ICLEI’s manager and teams to effectively engage with the municipality and provide technical and other support? It included the ability to work across organisations (as in the case of the REIPPPP) and across disciplines, and it was noted that the graduate level skills needed for the transdisciplinary work required (engineers, economists, planners and other social scientists) were in short supply – few graduates choose to work in local government or on ‘for good’ projects. As in the other cases, the competencies required seemed to reside in teams, with strong visionary and motivating leadership.

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CASE STUDY | The Working for Water Programme

Working for Water is an ecological restoration programme with a jobs focus established in 1995; it has been sustained over 20 years during which it also and spawned a number of other programmes with a natural resource focus (such as wetland restoration). The collective 3-year budget is R7.8 billion, more than any other natural resource management project in South Africa. The focus on the case study was on the high level skills that enable and drive such initiatives.

A first relevant observation was that the programme originated through collaboration between individuals in civil society (NGOs), academia and government, suggesting strongly that green economy competency development should involve all social partners. The development of the 1998 National Water Act, a ground breaking policy integrating social and ecological considerations – and hence the skills to design such an integrated policy – are also to be credited for the context in which Working for Water developed. Policy review in the form of amendments to the Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (Act 43 of 1983) also gave the programme greater traction and sustainability.

As a programme with more than 300 projects across South Africa, that has cleared more than a million hectares of invasive plants, created employment for approximately 20,000 people per annum, and received R3.3 billion over its life span, the initiative is in many ways a success with one of the key competencies identified, being the ability of its leaders and senior managers to ‘make the case’ that it should be supported.

As in the other cases, it is not just individual competence that is important but organisational set-up; for example, bigger initiatives within the programme experience a number of challenges associated with centralised decision-making and limited accountability for specific goals at lower levels; smaller programmes with a greater degree of decentralised decision making and shared accountability were reported to work better. Hence, organisational and project design competencies seem important. Strategic planning has been a challenge: planners struggle to integrate across overlapping goals (integrated sustainable development competencies required). Stakeholder engagement and collaborative planning stand out as key learning needs.

Project management was a pervasive implementation challenge. It includes reflexivity and strategic adaptive management, so that managers at various levels in the programme can be flexible and adaptive when faced with operational challenges, and make strategic decisions based on changing or unexpected conditions on the ground. Protocols and recruitment procedures were a significant challenge, and again point to organisational development and human resource development capacity needs. While such competencies are not directly associated with driving the green economy, they are clearly important in creating the necessary enabling environments.

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3.2 Findings on Learning Needs across Data Sources

3.2.1 Analysis

Section 3.2 presents the findings regarding learning needs (competencies identified) across all the data sources: the above case studies, the additional interviews, and Survey 2. The data from all these sources were reviewed and competencies identified. Competencies were listed and it was noted which occurred more frequently. The competencies were then clustered in three consecutive rounds. In the first round, it was noted that some competencies were rather a category of ‘action’ or ‘practice’ that would be a good label for a cluster of competencies that work together to, for example, ‘make the case’ for the green economy or ‘do integrated sustainability planning’. Each of these ‘competency cluster’ categories were named using the terms used by respondents. Associated competencies were then clustered together under these headings. Some competencies (like systems thinking) appear repeatedly under different headings.

In the following rounds the process aimed at combining competencies where possible, so as to reduce the detail and provide a more user friendly assessment for decision makers.

Figure 5 indicates how competency clusters and competencies are related to each other. Each competency may consist of associated knowledge, skills and values, and perhaps particular attitudes and dispositions.

3.2.2 General Observations about the

LearningNeedsIdentified

The following general observations were made by either the researchers or respondents:

• A large number of diverse competencies are needed for driving the green economy transition. These competencies occur or are needed not necessarily in individuals, but in teams of people (distributed competencies) who have different roles and who need to work effectively with each other; for this leadership is required.

• A number of technical learning needs (such as modelling) were identified, but relational and transformational competencies (such as stakeholder engagement and the ability to integrate development goals) occurred even more frequently in the data, and influenced how technical competencies were developed and applied.

• The identified competencies appear on a continuum as they are each, to varying degrees, technical, relational and transformational in nature; for example, the kind of modelling required for greening the economy, would also have a transformative dimension (visioning, ethical valuing).

• While the more technical competencies often pertained to a particular context or occupational role, the more relational and transformational competencies seemed more generic, e.g. stakeholder engagement was needed across all green economy focus areas, in relation to all levers and in a variety of occupations.

• All the green economy champions in this assessment were graduates and all had been applying themselves for years to develop the deep knowledge of the context in which they worked.

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To reduce the amount of information for sharing and decision making purposes, a clustering process was conducted as outlined in section 4.2.1. During clustering it became evident that some learning needs identified by respondents were more than single competencies; they consisted of a number of competencies and could be used as useful headings for competency ‘clusters’. For example, it was frequently mentioned that green economy champions needed to be able to ‘make the case’ for a particular sustainability initiative or for the green economy in general. When ‘making the case’ was discussed or analysed, it was seen to require a range of competencies from engaging stakeholders and building coalitions, to resource economics determinations and social impact evaluations. The competency ‘clusters’ were all generic in that they seem to apply to all of the sectors and focus areas and all the levers addressed in the assessment.

The analysis indicated that they are not a hierarchy (even though some were mentioned more than others) and that they are all relevant, as a web or system of capabilities.

The associated competencies are presented in Figures 6 to 12, with an indication of the degree to which they are more technical, more relational or more transformational in nature.

1. Making the case for a green

economy initiative or intervention.

2. Integrated sustainable development planning,

policy development and governance.

3. Strategic adaptive management and

expansive or transformative learning.

4. Working effectively across different units within

and across organisations and sectors.

5. Workingwithmultipleknowledgefields

(practically, politically and conceptually).

6. Human capacity and organisational development.

7. Principle-based leadership.

COMPETENCY CLUSTERS

CompetencyCluster

Competency 1

Competency 2

Competency 3

Competency 4

A Knowledge and SkillsB Values, and Attitudes, Dispositions




Figure 5: Relationship between Competency Clusters, Competencies, and Skills

HOW TO INTERPRET THE COMPETENCY DIAGRAMS ON PAGES 28-32:

The three circles present the different types of competencies that are needed within a team that isworkingonaspecificcluster(e.g.CompetenciesNeeded to Make the Case for Green Economy Initiatives). These include technical, transformational and relational competencies. However, some competencies combine technical, transformational and relational knowledge, skills and attitudes. These are then placed in the overlapping area between two or three circles (e.g. visioning, i.e. ability to envisage alternative systems and futures using problem identification and analysis, is a combination oftechnical and transformational competencies and is hence featured between the blue and green circles).

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Working with policy – knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply policy & regulatory frameworks ito mandates; integrate environment in mandates; policy integration

Ability to work with qualitative and quantitative data

Technical Competencies

Relational Competencies

Transformational Competencies

Visioning – ability to envisage & represent alternative systems & futures, using problem identification & analysis

Modeling – ability to produce & use models

Sustainability – understanding & valuing social, economic & ecological outcomes; ability to determine financial value (resource economics and cost accounting) & social benefit; understanding how to integrate across these domains

Context responsiveness – ablility to analyse context & match the initiative to it; think laterally; seei new connections and opportunities in complex situations

Stakeholder engagement – ability to build partnerships, coalitions, shared values & ownership in the face of diverse values & mandates

Evaluation – ability to determine ecological , social & financial impact & potential impact

Ability to communicate value to diverse stakeholders

Resource economics i.e. the ability to determine the economic value of natural resources such as biodiversity and water or landscapes;

Ability to develop a business case for a green economy initiative (ability to determine how it would make business senseAbility to set up

intelligent data gathering and data management systems – to track impact

Systems thinking and ability to work with(in) complexity

Figure 6: Competencies Needed to Make the Case for Green Economy Initiatives

3.2.3 Learning Needs of the Key Competency Clusters

Making the Case for a Green Economy Initiative - Obtaining Political & Financial Support & Implementation Partners

1. Making the case for a green economy initiative was a phrase frequently used by green economy champions. This was what they had to do to obtain political and financial support and implementation partners. It requires the suite of competencies in Figure 6.

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2. Integrated sustainable development and integrated policy planning and development. This is a cluster of competencies that are required in order to plan for sustainable development through policy frameworks; champions highlighted the difficulty of developing and implementing policies and plans towards integrated economic, broader social and ecological outcomes. The associated competencies reside in individuals and across teams or units, several of which overlap with those identified in (1).

Integrated Sustainable Development, Policy Planning & Development

Ability to work with qualitative and quantitative data




Visioning – ability to envisage & represent alternative systems & futures, using problem identification & analysis

Modeling – ability to produce & use models

Sustainability – understanding & valuing social, economic & ecologi-cal outcomes; ability to determine financial value (resource economics and cost accounting) & social benefit; understand-ing how to integrate across these domains

Context responsiveness – ablility to analyse context & match the initiative to it; think laterally; seei new connections and opportunities in complex situations

Stakeholder engagement – ability to build partnerships, coalitions, shared values & ownership in the face of diverse values & mandates


Ability to communicate value to diverse stakeholders

Resource economics i.e. the ability to determine the economic value of natural resources such as biodiversity and water or landscapes;

Ability to set up intelligent data gathering and data management systems – to track impact


Understanding & applying new economic thinking e.g. circular economies & just transition frameworks

Developing and integrating with policy - Knowledge of and ability to interpret and apply policies and regulatory frameworks; integrating green economy and natural resources in organisational mandates; policy innovation; policy integration; mainstreaming natural resource management to inform planning, decision making

Supporting change in agencies & actors, supporting communities in policy implementation

Project management and leadership competence

Figure 7: Competencies Needed for Integrated Sustainable Development and Associated Policy Planning and Development

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Strategic competence - ability to envision change, think laterally, see new connections & opportunities

Project / programme management and leadership competence




Reflexivity - ability to recognise & reflect on outcomes of actions & change course and/or assumptions

Communication skills

Social learning process design skills

Ability to support agency and actor transitions

Ability to participate effectively in learning communities and networks

General research & analysis & evaluation capacity – ability to determine & communicate outcomes & made recommendations based on learning

Decision making & willingness to take risks in a context of uncertainty

Deep technical knowledge of the context in which management is required


3. Strategic adaptive management, expansive and transformative learning. These are different terms used more frequently respectively in the natural sciences (Strategic Adaptive Management) and in the social sciences (expansive and transformative learning), but it seemed prudent to group them together given that they required similar competencies. Respondents pointed out that these competencies were required not only at top management but also at middle management levels. Strategic Adaptive Management refers to managers’ ability to learn from actions taken and

Strategic Adaptive Management; Expansive & Transformative Learning

adapt further actions on the basis of this learning (a form of reflexivity); it is particularly relevant in complex systems where it is not easy to predict outcomes and therefore not appropriate to manage according to predetermined formulas. Expansive and transformative learning involves ‘learning what is not yet know’ with others, often in relation to working on a shared, challenging focus. It moves forward the boundaries of what communities know and understand about, in this case, economy and the environment.

Figure 8: Competencies Needed for Strategic Adaptive Management, and Expansive and Transformative Learning

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4. Working effectively across different units within an organisation and across different types of organisations and sectors was identified as needed by all green economy champions. Examples are working with colleagues in a team; working with other departments in an organisation; with(in) other organisations and sectors (environment, development, industry; government and business. It requires the competencies outlined in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Competencies Needed for Working Effectively across Different Units in an Organisation and across Different Types of Organisations

5. Working with multiple knowledge fields was identified as a requirement; examples include working with urban planning, development studies, economics, political sciences, ecological sciences, marketing and communications, on one initiative. The associated competencies are outlined in Figure 10.

Working Effectively across Different Units in an Organisation and across Different Sectors & Types of Organisations

Working with Different Knowledge Fields (practically, conceptually, politically)

Strategic competence - ability to envision change, think laterally, see new connections & opportunities

Integrative thinking – ability to see connections and make them practically




Communication skills


Stakeholder engagement - ability to advance collaborative practices, facilitate solution finding despite conflicting values and mandates


Project / programme management and leadership competence

Understanding and applying relevant policy in an integrated or aligned manner





Ability to practically, politically & conceptually manage multi-disciplinary (research) teams


Stakeholder engagement - ability to advance collaborative practices, facilitate solution finding despite conflicting values and mandates

Communications skills

Individuals with understanding, perspective & skills across disciplines. (In Integrated Water Resource Management for example, graduates need both technical or social skills - but often have either one or the other)

Ability to value the contribution of diverse fields & disciplines to solve sustainability issues & drive the green economy

Being comfortable with (using) qualitative and quantitative data

Figure 10: Competencies Needed for Working with Different Knowlege Fields

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6. Human capacity and organisational development emerged as an important organisational or system capability, to support the development and appointment of the ‘new’ skills necessitated by the need for a green economy transition, and to create the enabling organisational or institutional arrangements within which these skills could be effectively deployed. This set of competencies was associated not only with long term skills development but also with what some respondents called ‘overdue’ programmes in the post-school system. Figure 11 outlines the competencies involved (see Figure 11).

Figure 11: Competencies for Human Capacity and Organisational Development to Support the Transition to a Green Economy

7. Principle-based leadershipThis key cluster focussed strongly on values that were evident in individuals but even more so in organisational cultures or approaches with associated norms, standards, structures and systems. These allow for and encourage innovative, solutions-oriented and agile leadership that exercises creativity and problem-solving, while at the same time, applying high ethical standards related to transparency, honesty, fairness, ecological sustainability, social justice, serving humanity, working for the greater good, rather than self-interest. The associated competencies are outlined in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Competencies Associated with Principle-based Leadership

Human Capacity and Organisational Development to Support Green Economy Transitioning

Principle-based Leadership





Organisational design skills for project design and organisational set-up that is conducive to green economy initiatives.


Stakeholder engagement - (engaging HCD stakeholders in the HCD system around the green economy)

Workforce development, initial and continuous, including workplace learning programme development and implementation skills such as mentoring

Human capital development research skills including labour market analysis, workforce impact assessment, labour demand analysis and supply and transitioning research skills

Developing learning opportunities that are appropriate for particular contexts

Designing and expansive / transformative and social learning programmes and facilitating social learning processes

Training capacity (green economy trainers)

Green economy qualification development

Principle-based innovation skills and disposition

Relational CompetenciesTransformational Competencies

Leadership competence

Ethical guidance to teams and suppliers

Stakeholder engagement

Problem-solving skills and disposition

Values or normative competence must co-exist with all other competences

Ethical decision making

Understanding sustainability principles

Agile project / programme management

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3.2.4 Explanation of Competencies

Section 3.2.4 breaks down the most frequently mentioned competencies outlined above into some of their dimensions, by way of explanation. This explanation will be useful to green economy teams attempting to ascertain whether they have in place competencies that

— Build coalitions— Mobilise committed

partners — Engage local

communities towards project acceptance

— Facilitate, Mediate, Negotiate

— Manage conflict— Manage diversity (in

human resources)— Understand international

relations and play a diplomatic role

— Broker Public-Private Partnership transactions, identify barriers to cooperation

— Support agency and actor transitions.

— Develop teams across government departments and the policy spheres

— Coordinate and align transversal skills to integrate different competencies and move forward with a common purpose

— Manage and work in multi-disciplinary teams, where the necessary expertise is distributed across the team

— Plan projects in an integrative manner

— Communicate across different levels of expertise

— Undertake stakeholder engagement, build partnerships, negotiate

— Undertake strategic supplier management (see below)

— Support agency and actor transitions.

may be required for particular green economy initiatives, as a means of conducting local level skills needs assessments, and to the developers of educational programmes who need more detail on what competencies course participants would want to develop.

Stakeholder EngagementCompetence

Team Development and Management Competence

— Human resource management and HR development skills, ability to recruit appropriately staff and / or appropriately skilling staff in line with strategic intent

— The ability to contract appropriately, manage and maximise the benefit of working with external experts (e.g. Consultants), identifying suitable partners

— Ability to coordinate.

— Public speaking and communicating with diverse audiences

— Report writing (various kinds, not only technical but to ‘make a case’)

— Knowledge brokering to bridge the science/policy interface

— Supporting agency and actor transitions through communications.

Strategic Supplier Management Competence

Communicative Competence

Project Management Competence

— Lead and manage programmes/projects based on principles, not allowing ‘mission drift’ or malicious compliance – strategic competence

— Manage transitions and change – taking the steps involved from vision into implementation — Undertake financial management (technical competence)— Undertake stakeholder engagement — Developing and managing teams (see below)— Manage iterative cycles of experimentation, learning and action (see also Fig 8)— Design integrated projects, with budgets and finance - technical competence— Design and implement integrated monitoring and evaluation systems – technical and relational competence— Design and implement intelligent and practical data capturing and management systems – technical competence— Mobilise resources (including ability to fundraise)— Manage contracts (construction contracts was listed specifically)— Manage suppliers.

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Green Economy

Champions are...

Open to exploring new knowledge fields, learning new content and approaches

Forward looking, with an ethical vision of a 'better world'

Willing to take decisions, risks in uncertainty; willing to learn from actions and change course; willing to adapt

Patient and persistent in the face of resistance

Outward looking; willing to work with others and for the greater good

Figure 13: Features of a Green Economy Champion’s Disposition

The final elaboration (Table 6) lists a variety of technical competencies required in green economy teams, and the associated occupations or roles. Some of these competencies have already been listed in Figures 6 to 12. They are presented in Table 6, because stakeholders

have identified them as associated with specific occupational roles. This was not the case for most of the competencies outlined in Figures 6 to 12, which seemed to therefore apply across occupational roles.

Reflexive monitoring and evaluation to support green economy transitions was a competence proposed not only for M&E specialists, but also for project managers and directors. It would involve standard competencies such as the ability to design and implement M&E systems, but respondents differentiated it from conventional M&E in that it needs to:

• Support ‘the case’ for green economy initiatives

• Include social, economic and ecological outcomes and impacts in its scope by determining and communicating social, economic and ecological value

• Be complexity aware and be able to track processes in complex systems

• Support, expansive and transformative learning, strategic adaptive management and support agency and actor transitions

• Be aligned and integrated with green economy initiatives (as opposed to be conducted just at the end of an initiative).

Dispositions: The findings suggest that green economy champions have a way of approaching initiatives that some described as “personality”, but could perhaps also be seen as a disposition or outlook (that could be amenable to learning). Figure 13 lists features of this disposition. Note the importance of openness to learning outside one’s current field of expertise.

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Table 6: Technical Competencies Required and Associated Roles and Occupations

OCCUPATIONAL ROLE SOME ASSOCIATED TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

Policy developers, planners (various); also company directors, CEOs

Ability to analyse and review policy, ability to align policy, ability to develop new policy

Economists, resource economists Ability to evaluate the merits of green investment Ability to determine the economic value of natural resources such as biodiversity and water or landscapesAbilitytoconductcostbenefitanalysisinordertomakethecase for (or against) green economy initiativesAbility to practice quantitative and qualitative analysis to describe and analyse the (economic, social and ecological) value of natural resourcesAbility to undertake ecosystem accounting, resource assessment and evaluations (including in the context of solar and wind energy and hydrology)Abilitytoconductfinancialmodeling

Financing Abilitytomakefinancingdecisionsaboutgreeninvestments;abilitytomanagethefinancingofgreeninvestments;includingmicro-financingskills(banksnotwellsettolendtosmallerbusinesses)

Engineers

Engineering educators,

Ability to design and manage integrated sustainability projectsAbilitytodesignandmanageenergyefficientprocessesAbility to design and manage steps for energy optimisationAbility to design and optimise renewable energy applicationsAbility to develop the above competencies (energy context andcontentspecifictrainingcompetence)

Educationists, educators and trainers

Ability to design learning opportunities that are appropriate for particular contexts, including the design of expansive / transformative and social learning programmesAbility to facilitate social learning processesTraining capacity (green economy trainers)AbilitytodevelopqualificationsthatreflectgreencompetenciesHuman resources and Human resource development skills for workforce development, initial and continuous, including the ability to design transformative workplace learning programmes and support changeAbility to mentor green economy championsAbility to design, manage and undertake human capacity development research

Entrepreneurs Ability to champion a green business through identifying and analysing markets, product design, entering markets, and/or capitalising on innovation

Agricultural practitioners Ability to undertake (sustainable) natural resource management (related to water, soil, biodiversity) in the context of agriculture

Ecologists (aquatic) Ability to undertake integrated water resource management, measure,interpretandcommunicatewaterqualityandflow

Legal Ability to draw up contracts including large construction contracts for green economy initiatives

Evaluators, programme developers, programme managers

Abilitytocommission,designandimplementintegrated,reflexiveandcomplexity aware monitoring, evaluation and learning systems

In conclusion, the assessment identified a variety of competencies that enable teams and individuals within teams to drive the transition towards a green economy. Clusters of competencies were needed, along with certain dispositions including openness to learn outside one’s current field of expertise. Competencies consist of a range of skills, knowledge and values applied in an integrated

manner. Competencies identified were technical, relation and transformational in nature; in most cases these overlapped and there are strong indications (particularly based on interviews) that they need to co-exist. For example, modeling needs to be done in the context of systems thinking and a willingness to learn new ways of framing problems.

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4.1 Desk Top and Interview Data Sources

An audit of available courses and other learning opportunities was undertaken at two points in the assessment: midway through, and towards the end, once the priority learning needs were identified. The audit was approached in two ways: by online research on the offerings of all educational providers that were mentioned by respondents and interviewees as being particularly, or even just possibly, relevant; and by online searches for any additional providers (not mentioned) who may be offering courses or programmes relevant to the learning needs that were identified in the surveys and interviews. In this way approximately 200 entries were logged outlining providers, offerings (with some detail) and the competencies they address, as well as intended users. It includes nearly 30 online courses. The list was reduced to the 170 most relevant entries and is proposed to be accessible as an interactive database under Green Economy Learning, one of the key themes of the on-line Green Economy Knowledge Platform which will be developed in the PAGE programme in South Africa in 2017.

The desk top review was significantly strengthened by the interview data. Interviewees elaborated on their own learning journeys, key institutions and their reflections on what works in their own or others’ training programmes, and what the challenges are.

The desk top provider research was very dependent on the information that is available online, and only in a few instances were follow up phone calls made to providers (due to time constraints). The comparison indicated that

some institutions, in particular universities, are not able to keep their websites updated, and what they have on offer is therefore not always well reflected on their websites. This would present a problem for relatively unconnected individuals looking for courses. Providers indicated that this was due to a lack of human resources, less to technically upload new content, than to produce the content.

It is recommended that the spreadsheet developed for the assessment is used to set up an online ‘living’ database that course coordinators and/or satisfied students could be encouraged to regularly update as a service to the community. However, if providers lack the human resources/time to generate new content to load on websites, this would have to be a supported activity.

4.2 General Comment on the Provider Findings

There is a spectrum of learning opportunities valued by stakeholders, from highly structured to highly unstructured and open-ended (see Table 7). Table 7 is not exhaustive. The information suggests that every topic identified in the assessment is taught somewhere by someone. The value of having access to a database of available learning opportunities is evident in that some respondents indicated they did not know of any training in (e.g.) adaptive management (while this seems to be offered by at least two universities, Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies in South Africa, and a Wits Masters programme) or in entrepreneurship (yet there are opportunities, some of which are mentioned in Table 7).

4 FINDINGS: PROVIDER CAPACITY

37

Longer courses (a year or more) Resultinginformalqualifications,offeredbyuniversitiesanduniversities of technology in SA and internationally. All SA universities are in some way “trying to make a difference” in the words of one interviewee, and all seem to have some courses relevant to the needsidentifiedintheAssessment.Coursesareofferedinarangeofdepartments; schools including business schools; centres including environmental management and environmental learning centres; and other units focussing on Environmental ethics; Governance; Renewable energy; Sustainability for Mining and Industry, and more.

Shorter courses for physical attendance, from 2 days to 6 weeks

Also Summer Schools and Winter Schools

Either accredited or not; customised or not. This is the most popular form of training in many organisational contexts, and like the longer courses they span a range of topics. Providers include universities, NGOs, not-for-profitentitieslikeTIPSandAfricege(whichallofferbespokecourses), Common Purpose, Biomimicry SA, Wildlife and Environment Society(WESSA),consultingfirmsandtrainingbusinesses.Aseriesofrelevantcourses,somewithsignificantdevelopingworldcontent,are offered by international agencies including the ILO, PAGE, UNITAR, UNESCO. The CSIR’s NCPC develops energy, water and waste related courses. Entrepreneurial training is offered in variations of the short course called ‘coachlabs’ (CSIR Innovation Hub) and ‘bootcamps’ (DEA). Government also offers short courses; this includes the National School of Governance with a range of relevant programmes and online courses e.g. in strategic thinking, scenario planning, and project management.

Online courses including MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

These too span a range of highly relevant topics and are usually open to anyone, with varying degrees of interactive components. Most of the providers are international universities but also public entities like UNESCO, UNEP and the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (on circular economy)

Research opportunities Several research Chairs at SA universities focus on relevant topics like Business and Climate Change, Green Economy, Global Change and Sustainability, Green Skills and Social Learning. There are also smaller research units such as the Environmental Policy Research Unit, and some (but not many) individuals mentioned the PhD as an important learning opportunity.

Fellowships A bursary programme with mentoring, coaching and peer support such as GreenMatter.

Formal and informal networks & exchanges, conferences and research networks

Inter-governmental working groups, industry associations, professional bodies and informal networks including research networks and green economy networks of which there are quite a few. South Africans working in this space are generally but not always internationally connected.

Resource based learning Respondents mentioned the availability of materials (such as economic policies) on departmental websites; some departments or NGOs produced ‘toolkits’ as way of supporting changed practices in the workplace.

Without a curriculum analysis or personal reviews, it would be difficult to know whether or not a particular learning opportunity will meet a particular learning need, despite what is listed in a prospectus or on a website. The nuances that respondents have given to the learning needs they identified, should be noted. For example, while there are Integrated Water Resource Management degree courses available, two interviewees felt that they do not develop the right mix of (inter-disciplinary) skills to the required depth, and it may be necessary to complement them with short courses focussing

on missing aspects (whether technical or relational competencies). Similarly, while a number of universities, as well as development agencies, private providers, the National School of Governance and the South African Monitoring and Evaluation Association run courses and workshops in monitoring and evaluation, respondents described the learning priority as ‘not standard monitoring and evaluation’ skills but ‘reflexive’ or ‘innovative’ monitoring and evaluation that responds to complexity and supports adaptive management, and which can adequately reflect the ecological and social impacts of green economy interventions.

LESS

STR

UC

TUR

ED

M

OR

E ST

RU

CTU

RED

Table 7: Types of Learning Opportunities Identified in the Assessment

38

4.3 SpecificProviderFindings

The majority of the champions interviewed, valued and recommended combinations of structured learning opportunities (courses) with less structured opportunities (such as networks, which were often started or joined on courses). The majority of respondents who were active in driving green economy initiatives, indicated that they learned most ‘on the job’, in projects with other people, including people with diverse (disciplinary) backgrounds, and that they sought out much of what they need to know, themselves, to either ‘top up’ or ‘beef up’ their skills. They also noted that it can be difficult to gain access to some networks and resources, unless one was already senior and experienced.

It was also evident that courses were vital but on their own are not adequate to guide changing practices in the workplace; that workplaces are likely to be the most significant learning spaces for the green economy; that these learning spaces are likely to span more than one unit within a workplace and/or more than one workplace at a time; and that many South African employers (and industry or skills bodies) are not well prepared to support the kind of learning required. A model recommended by two interviewees was training that involved members of teams or departments that are meant to function together in the workplace (but often fail to do so optimally) attending courses (or parts of courses) together, even if or particularly if they were at different management levels.

Respondents have also noted the following:• Hybrid models, that combine formal

courses with less structured and ‘on the job’ opportunities like networks and supported change projects, or ‘apprentice’ models where exposure to theory is combined with mentoring, seem most appropriate.

• Training of trainers is a priority• Some people, usually in senior positions,

are self-directed in their learning, identify for themselves what skills they need, and develop these using resources and opportunities that they find and navigate themselves

• Others may need more mediated learning opportunities such as those structured and scaffolding by course instructors; while yet others benefit from media messages and experiential activities.

As a way forward with a repository of green economy related learning opportunities PAGE could consider developing the current Excel list into a database and inviting providers to upload or update material on the learning opportunities they offer, with a short description that outlines how their programmes respond to the learning needs identified in this assessment. This would make such an inventory or database a valuable ‘live’ resource for team leaders and HR departments wanting to source suitable learning opportunities.

In this regard it may be useful to keep the ‘more structured’ and ‘less structured’ framework in mind (see Figure 14).

In conclusion, a wide spectrum of learning opportunities relevant to a green economy already exists in South Africa. Topics associated with most of the competencies identified in the assessment are taught somewhere by someone; an exception is the need for complexity sensitive, reflexive evaluation that can assess and support the case for green economy transitions. Green economy champions value a variety of learning opportunities. Courses, whether face to face or online, are not enough, and need to be complemented with opportunities to learn from taking action with others.

39

Figure 14: Continuums of Competency Types & Learner Approaches Can Be Used to Plot Learning Opportunity Types

E.g accounting

MOOC without a tutor

E.g executive coaching for

an organisational

change project

E.g face to face

accounting course

E.g supported course

network

Competencies are more technical in nature

Learners need less mediation and less structure

Learners need more mediation and more structure

Competencies are more relational and transformational in nature

40

5 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

5.1 What Drives the Green Economy - Policies or Projects?

Based on the case studies reviewed, policy was not necessarily the starting point for green economy actions. In some examples within the cases, projects were started and policy followed. Policy was however critical in creating enabling conditions for projects to thrive and be sustained, and inappropriate policies could create very inhibiting conditions. In the REIPPPP programme for example, ways had to be found around the public procurement policy in order to get the programme off the ground. International events, particularly when held in South Africa (such as the soccer world cup, the climate change Conference of the Parties or Africa Transport Week) provided significant contexts in which green economy actions have been championed, and could give rise to policy developments, provided that the necessary capacity exists in the country, to recognise or create the opportunity and respond appropriately. Government– led policy development is important but is interwoven with the actions of academics and civil society champions, proactive industries and politicians. Hence, green economy learning opportunities would ideally span across all these groups and would be in some instances at least be best approached with mixed groups, given the weight given by respondents in this assessment to stakeholder engagement, partnerships, coalitions and the ability to communicate and work effectively across traditional boundaries.

5.2 Green Economy Learning Needs

In analysing case studies of green economy actions, and conducting interviews with green economy champions, it became clear that the competencies necessary for green economy actions occurred in a distributed format among the members of teams,

and that few if any individuals had all the knowledge and skills required to undertake the complex and often drawn out work required to advance the green economy in a particular context. The green economy actions reported on were driven by groups whose members worked well together, whether as management units or as in-house teams, as in-house teams working with other internal teams or with external partners and/or consultants, resource persons and advisors.

A further observation was that the competencies identified were multi-faceted and occurred on a continuum from more technical and less relational or transformational competencies, to less technical and more relational and transformational competencies. Many competencies, such as strategic adaptive management, had facets of each type of competence outlined by Scharmer (2009).

The Scharmer competency framework was nonetheless useful as a prompt, for commentators to look beyond a narrow range or obvious competencies; to recognise the extent to which non-technical skills are necessary; to find a more exact language for describing ‘soft skills’; and to note how even technical skills (such as monitoring and evaluation or project management) have relational and transformational dimensions.

This assessment has summarised competency needs identified in three case studies, a survey yielding nearly one hundred answers, and 12 interviews with diverse green economy champions. Across these findings there was a significant degree of congruence. This was particularly the case with generic skills, which were in some cases technical (like financial management or contracting) and in other cases, relational (such as stakeholder engagement) and transformational (such as strategic planning). Relational and transformational competencies were learning needs regardless of the context or sector.

42

Given this congruence it was relatively easy to summarise the findings on green economy learning needs. As such the assessment can be used as a decision making tool for teams to identify their own competency needs in a particular context. A team should decide what competencies they need; then conduct a self-assessment to determine what their strengths and their gaps are in relation to these competencies across the team and not necessarily hoping to find all the necessary competencies for the required action, in one person. (See Appendix 1 for a tool that can be further developed.)

The green economy assessment for South Africa provides a framework that the small functional teams that drive the green economy, either through policies or projects, can use to define what competencies they need in their particular context. They could use the competency framework outlined here, and the examples of competency needs which, with the exception of certain situation specific technical competencies, are likely to be quite comprehensive, given the degree of congruence found in responses.

5.3 Green Economy Learning Opportunities

Green economy learning opportunities were more difficult to provide in a succinct manner. Much information can be found given enough time to track it down, but it is scattered and many providers lack the time to keep their online information updated. It was also difficult to decide how to frame the information gathered – according to provider, according to the (often multiple) learning needs they address, or according to format. It is also challenging to make a generic recommendation on which of these learning opportunities would be useful to expand, or where the most critical gaps are. What is most critical, would depend on the particular green economy action context in which the need occurs, and this assessment was too broad to make the call.

This conclusion does not imply that the Assessment was not useful. It begins to provide green economy champions with a framework to help them identify the kind of learning opportunities that may best match their needs. The spectrum of learning opportunities, ranging from more to less formal, more to less structured, and more self-directed to more mediated by learning facilitators, provide a helpful framing for considering the options, particularly when one takes into account that most of the champions we interviewed, valued combinations of structured learning opportunities (courses) with less structured opportunities (such as networks, which were often started on courses, e.g. the ILO Green Jobs for South Africa Community of Practice).

Once the competency needs in the team have been identified, as suggested in 6.2, the next decisions would be on how best to meet these skills needs. Again the assessment can offer guidelines in this regard (which could be developed into more or less elaborate decision making tools; see Appendix 1 for a possible start). Decisions will depend on the types of competencies needed (on the technical to transformational continuum), the degree to which learning can be self-directed or needs to be mediated, structured or unstructured (see Figure 4), and the kinds of formats that are feasible in the particular situation. In most situations a hybrid model or combination of learning opportunities would be recommended, and it was found that learning opportunities shared by multiple members of the same teams or departments can be particularly valuable in strengthening their collective effectiveness.

The database of green economy learning opportunities initiated for this assessment can be used as the start of a ‘living repository’ where providers can enter their own learning opportunities and provide their own assessment as to how their programmes, courses or workshops, for example, address the learning needs identified in this Assessment, or future assessments.

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6 RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

The recommended actions in Table 8 are informed by stakeholder feedback on the findings and draft recommendations at a stakeholder workshop in August 2016. The assessment team presented a set of recommendations based on the study findings and invited comments from stakeholders. Stakeholder adopted the list but also refined and expanded on it. The expanded list in Table 8 is the result of this process. The rationale for proposed actions is expanded in the section following the table.

This stakeholder consultation also concluded that the assessment can be flexibly used by multiple audiences including:

• PAGE programme

• Training providers

• The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) as well as Sector Education

and Training Authorities (SETAs)

• Other government departments

• Civil society including business.

Stakeholders further recommended that the report include both the shorter term and micro actions that the PAGE programme could feasibly support, as well as macro level actions required to build the bigger system for sustainability, and meso level actions that could bridge from the shorter term actions to the longer term system building and sustainability. The latter two action groups are for the consideration of South African government and civil society agencies, and the PAGE programme could be involved in supporting these agencies to fundraise for these actions (if necessary).

SHORTER TERM/MICRO LEVEL ACTIONS

MEDIUM TERM/MESO LEVEL ACTIONS

LONGER TERM/MACRO LEVEL ACTIONS

1. Prioritise the development of the PAGE Knowledge Platform and include the Assessment report, provider database and tools for local Green Economy Learning Assessments on the Platform; advertise the Platform widely Distribute information about suitable opportunities through the PAGE Knowledge Platform

Encourage stakeholders to use and contribute to the PAGE Green Economy Knowledge Platform on an ongoing basis; work towards ownership of the Platform by relevant roleplayers; provide human resources to help universities develop content to upload

Review GE related learning opportunities in business schools and Entrepreneurial Training in South Africa (perhaps using SEED’s criteria) to see if they are realistic and aligned with green economy thinking and include technical, relational and transformative competencies

Encourage more departments (beyond DEA, dti and DST) to become involved and take ownership of green economy learning initiatives; anchor this initiative in departmental strategies so that it can be resourced on a sustainable basis

Evaluate the success of these initiatives and whether the need still exists

2. Review and expand the offering of Introductory green economy courses currently offered through UNITAR, TIPS, Sustainability Institute and others, and explore the possibility of green economy related training through the National School of Government; include technical, relational and transformative competencies; encourage managerial and ministerial level participants but also involve stakeholders outside of government

In the medium term, evaluate the outcomes and institutionalise introductory green economy courses (e.g. in the National School of Governance) that still meet perhaps changing learning needs

Continue to explore options like working with Parliamentarians, National Planning Commission, provincial governments; use the course (face to face and online) or other opportunities to start professional / learning networks among key individuals

In the longer term, also build these into university programmes where governmental and non-governmental partners would interact

45

SHORTER TERM/MICRO LEVEL ACTIONS

MEDIUM TERM/MESO LEVEL ACTIONS

LONGER TERM/MACRO LEVEL ACTIONS

3. Develop and offer short courses in integrated energy, water and waste management that include technical, relational and transformational competencies, to a range of staff in teams at different levels in a range of industries; include technical, relational and transformative competencies

Develop a series of connected short courses at various levels

Evaluate the outcomes in the workplace of this training

Engage the skills people in industry associations to create awareness of the need for green economy learning and related training

‘Joined-up’ learning pathways to gain access to working in the green economy

Inform ongoing training development

Establish a professional body to drive andguidequalifications,accreditationand learning pathway development for green economy skills

4. Develop and pilot a short course or courses in ReflexiveMonitoring,Evaluation and Strategic Adaptive Management in Complex Systems for senior and middle managers and M&E designers; include technical, relational and transformative competencies

Usethepilotfindingstoengageexisting M&E training providers regarding the integration of ‘complexity awareandreflexivemonitoring,evaluation, social learning and strategic adaptive management courses in their programmes

Evaluate the success of these initiatives and whether the need still exists

5. Develop and offer a range of Training of Trainers courses/ learning opportunities for Green Economy related course developers and trainersacrossdifferentfields(likeenergy, water, Green Economy introduction general, and Green Economy education/ curriculum development and delivery in general); include technical, relational and transformative competencies

Establish learning network(s) associated with the courses, for Green Economy related course developers and trainers, to support curriculum innovation and transitioning

Ensure that broad concepts like sustainability are taught well in schools by engaging with the DBE and teacher development initiatives like Fundisa for Change

Training of trainer learning networks to work in national forums to engage DHET, SETAs and Quality Councils and consider the development of professional bodies for course accreditation, learning pathway and qualificationdevelopment(seealsoabove)

The first recommendation was that the database of learning opportunities and the contextual learning needs assessment tools be included in the proposed Green Economy Knowledge Platform to be developed under the PAGE programme in South Africa. This would optimize the value of this report. It would also address the potential limitations of a broad national assessment that may not be particular enough for some contexts. Stakeholders and task team members alike noted the importance of the database of available learning opportunities being available as a ‘live’ that stakeholders themselves can update and therefore, keep current.In this regard it was noted that while there were a number of entrepreneurial training opportunities available, these needed to be assessed to see if they were realistic, aligned with green economy thinking, and aiming to address technical, relational as well as transformative competencies.

The second recommended action set involved the expansion of the introductory green economy courses that are currently on offer, i.e. to offer more such courses, at a variety of levels. This was motivated by the value stakeholders derived from courses currently on offer, the view that these concepts are still relatively new in many contexts, and that more South Africans involved in policy should be exposed to these introductory concepts. Furthermore this assessment showed that more than introductory concepts are needed if the competencies identified were to be addressed. For example, green economy champions need a deeper understanding of alternative economic development options in order to successfully integrate ecological, economic and broader social goals. Hence the recommendation was made, to also offer courses at intermediate and advanced levels.

Table 8: Recommended Actions

46

Thirdly, stakeholders endorsed a recommendation for the development of courses in integrated energy, waste and water management that would give effect to green economy policy and implementation. While these are courses for ‘the working population’ that were excluded from this assessment, it was noted that they are also an important tool to educate senior managers on what the transition to a green economy would look like in practice, and to motivate them to support this transition. This assessment found that technical competencies such as the design, implementation and management of energy efficient processes cannot be separated from transformational competencies (the ability to envisage different processes for using and managing energy) and relational competencies (the ability to motivate others to adopt energy efficiency). Hence these courses and associated learning processes should be carefully designed to address the spectrum of competencies identified.

A fourth practical action recommendation was to develop courses in reflexive evaluation and adaptive management. A number of findings pointed in this direction including ‘policy monitoring and evaluation’ being most frequently listed as the most important lever for the green economy. In addition, the need to ‘make the case’ for green economy initiatives and investment meant that new approaches to evaluation are required, beyond standard cost-benefit analyses. Evaluation is also needed to guide green economy champions’ actions; they operate in complex, uncertain contexts and their actions are pioneering; hence they need rapid feedback to guide next steps. Such approaches to evaluation are not common, even though the database showed that a number of organisations offer evaluation training in South Africa.

Stakeholders were mindful that in order to offer all these new courses, trainers with new subject knowledge and suitable pedagogical skills would be required. The fifth recommendation was therefore for ‘training of trainers’ opportunities that are aligned with the learning needs in the assessment to be made available, so that the recommended courses can be offered on a sustainable basis in South Africa.

The final action recommended was for the mainstreaming of the findings of this assessment in sectoral skills planning at a national level. Stakeholders cautioned that once-off or even repeated skills interventions will not make the necessary changes at the scale required, unless National Government and partners embraced the need for green skills, and make provisions for proactive skills planning, professional bodies, occupational descriptors, and qualifications development.

More specific recommendations from stakeholders for having impact through the assessment were to:

• Identify whose responsibility the meso and macro level actions would be;

• Utilise DEA’s capacity to promote the recommendations in the clusters/working groups;

• Use the learning provider audit as a start for a ‘living’ online provider profile/ repository that interested providers can complete online, and keep updated, in relation to the learning needs identified in the assessment. That is, providers would be expected to read the assessment and include a paragraph on which of the learning needs identified in the assessment are addressed or supported through their learning programmes, and how.

What a particular group of stakeholders regard as priority learning needs is likely to differ from context to context, and a proposed a methodology whereby groups can determine their own learning needs, using this assessment as guide, is outlined in the analysis. For this purpose, two tools that green economy teams can use to determine their local level learning needs and the best mix of learning opportunities were developed as an outcome of this assessment (see Appendix). In commenting on the assessment stakeholders noted that the tools were as important as, or even more important than the assessment report, as it could be used to determine context-specific learning needs. The assessment report should then be read as part of the process of populating the tools.

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7 COMMENT ON THE ASSESSMENT SCOPE AND PROCESS

An assessment was found to be an appropriate process for providing PAGE partners and stakeholders with policy relevant recommendations, as, being different to a scientific study, an assessment deals with broad and complex topics and provide a summation based on the gathering of existing knowledge and expert inputs. In this case the scope of the assessment was progressively narrowed in order to gain the more in-depth understanding that could guide recommendations.

The scope of the green economy and associated learning needs is very broad and in some instances contested (for example, whether addressing climate change is part of the green economy). An important first step in the assessment was to adapt the thematic scope to the South African context and select key sectors. Even with these stakeholder led delineations and increasing focus, the scope of the study remained broad. Whereas this is appropriate in some ways there is also a need for greater focus. The assessment addressed the need for greater focus by providing a tool that can be used at a local team level. Sector and programme specific assessments may also be needed.

The mix of data sources inspired confidence in the findings on the green economy learning needs, particularly given that both a variety of technical learning needs, and congruence on generic needs, have become apparent.

Survey 2 was challenging to complete and some respondents indicated that they would prefer an interview. Some (very few) survey responses were difficult to interpret. The survey

did allow for a bigger number of stakeholders to be consulted in a relatively short space of time. Interviews were more time consuming, but gave rich insights into the green economy experts’ and champions’ understanding and experiences, and increased the depth of understanding of the researchers. It also helped to clarify points that would have been misunderstood otherwise. In this regard it was noted that an in-depth understanding of the sector seems a prerequisite for conducting such an assessment, at least in some members of the assessment team. Alternatively, some points could be misinterpreted and lead to misdirected recommendations.

The assessment focussed on quality rather than quantity and every effort was made to source credible data sources including experienced and well informed participants for surveys and interviews. Participation in these data generation processes was satisfactory and often very enthusiastic. Inputs during the two stakeholder workshops were also generally well informed and enthusiastic. Nonetheless the extent of participation in these two workshops was disappointing; in both cases only 20% of those invited, accepted the invitation. Responses indicated that at least some of those who did not attend, were enthusiastic about the initiative but unable to attend on the given date. It was noted that many of these key stakeholders have a large number of commitments to attend to in under-resourced contexts. A longer time frame for the assessment may have accommodated further participation.

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APPENDIX: TOOLS FOR LOCALISED LEARNING NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

Wha

t are

...Inrelationtoth

etasksinth

efirstcolum

n,and

ourcom

petencies...

The

tech

nica

l tas

ks?

Wha

t are

the

stre

ngth

s in

ou

r te

am?

Wha

t are

our

co

mpe

tenc

y ga

ps?

How

can

we

impr

ove

our

com

pete

ncy

mix

and

leve

ls?

The

peop

le r

elat

ed ta

sks?

The

tran

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mat

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l ta

sk(s

)? (W

hat c

hang

e do

we

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why

?)

Hin

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se th

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and

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in th

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ent t

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ide

you

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t: U

se th

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ble

belo

w a

nd th

e da

taba

se o

f for

this

col

umn

For each big action to drive the green economy, ask the following questions in the team/unit/department:

50

Lear

ning

opt

ions

Is g

ood

for:

Not

goo

d fo

r:G

ood

in

com

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, res

ourc

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:

Dec

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a lo

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cour

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egre

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certificate)

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expl

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, gui

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esea

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Green Economy Learning Options (GELO) Decision Making Tool

51

South African education and training providers are currently offering various courses relevant for a green economy. However, given the scale

of the challenge of transitioning to a green and inclusive economy, a more systematic engagement of the education and training sector is

needed. The Partnership on Action for Green Economy (PAGE) in collaboration with the South African Government therefore commissioned

a Green Economy Learning Assessment, with the aim to:

1. Identify learning priorities for advancing a green economy in South Africa;

2. Review existing institutional capacities to provide related education and training activities, and

3. Identify opportunities for strengthening and upscaling the delivery of green economy learning through national institutions.

The assessment focussed on the learning needs of ‘champions’ in government, business, civil society and academia, who drive the transition

towards a green economy in diverse policy contexts at national, provincial or local levels. The four main outputs of the assessment are:

• A competency framework which allows for a structured analysis of green economy learning needs.

• A database of 170 learning opportunities/courses offered by universities, research institutes, not-for-profit organisations, development

partners and others.

• A list of priority actions to advance learning and skills development for greening the South African economy.

• A self-assessment tool for teams designing or implementing green economy policies, to identify potential competency gaps and

suitable learning opportunities.

The assessment was conducted by researchers of the GreenSkills programme.

PAGE Secretariat

UNEP/Economic and Trade Branch

11-13 Chemin des Anémones

CH-1219 Chatelaine-Geneva

Switzerland

www.un-page.org

@greeneconomyunep

@PAGEXchange

[email protected]

Department of Environmental Affairs

Environment House

473 Steve Biko

Arcadia

Pretoria 0083

South Africa

www.environment.gov.za

[email protected]

Environmental Crime Hotline 0800 205 005

Call Centre: 086 111 2468

+27 12 359 3625

For further information:

GREEN ECONOMY LEARNING ASSESSMENT SOUTH AFRICAin developing green economy strategies, with the...

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